Returning to game, Theory crafting

[Onisake]

I don't completely follow this, care to explain? Was this in regards to my recommendation to ignore VIT? Or are you implying that the BLM in the above scenario was not trying to pull hate on purpose? I can say for a fact that it's true, because there is more than one BLM in my LS that tries to rip hate off the tank intentionally. We're usually all on voice chat, and they giggle about it, when it happens.


Actually kinda OT but your response made me think about our own evasion stats. Imo magic evasion is much more beneficial than physical evasion. While it is true that most attacks against you are physical damage, the big ones that will get you close to death or kill you in one shot are usually magic attacks. Somebody can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the way the evasion stats work is that it gives you a percentage chance to completely evade the attack, therefore magic evasion will save you more often than physical evasion.

Oh sorry. I was just thinking out loud. nothing to do with your recommendation on VIT. I'm really trying to get a feel for the current dominant theory. I will most likely start with my own theory and branch from it. seeing as the dominant theory is damage=enmity I'll be testing it seriously instead of just spear-heading my own thoughts.

Right now end-game content is limited. and everywhere i've read, the majority of damage received is physical in nature. didn't have anything to do with your theory on VIT, just a comment that the theory may need to change quickly if the next end-game content is magic heavy or against something highly evasive/defensive where PLDs ability to do damage is severely compromised. IE: need a reliable backup to damage=enmity because it may not always be the case. it's more of a quip at MRD tanking than PLD tanking. it also helps me theory craft on building other classes/jobs, when i'm dealing tons of damage on a DD class i don't want to worry about getting smacked in the face.

if hate really cannot be maintained relying on heals, in that situation PLD theory would need to change to keep it relevant. it's just theory, we have no idea what will happen moving forward with end-game content. But i have noticed a severe lack of magical defense stats on almost every recommended build. i'm not sure how enmity works exactly yet, but in FFXI if you took a big chunk of damage you lost a big chunk of enmity.

because i'm expecting a level cap increase at some point, and more variety to content i'm expecting to need at least two different gear sets. one for physical tanking and another for magical tanking. how they are optimized (either straight damage mitigation focusing on heals for enmity or damage=enmity) comes later. I may try to maximize potential and get 4 different gear sets to cover as many situations as possible. this will be important when exploring new content. being able to adapt to a new situation quickly can make-or-break you in determining a successful run.

I'm inclined to agree with you on physical evasion. This stat likely has a cap (i'd guess 20%) and because we have parry and block to help mitigate physical, magical evasion will be far more beneficial.

however i'd be more inclined to see how elemental resistance holds up against magical evasion. or maybe a combination of the two is needed.

Can't say much about how it goes in regards to healing. I run a pretty fixed group with friends and we tend to always run with two white mages so the tank has a dedicated healer (could it be different, more efficient? I don't know, my friends just enjoy playing that job so it's what they roll with and thus the experience I have).
Also remember you're always going to have Regen on you (which, since we're talking about efficiency and materia we're going to assume it's at top efficiency, so it's 203~ HP every 3 seconds).

I don't actually see healing generating much enmity myself, your Cure should be healing about 400~ and your Holy Succor about 700~ on target and another 350~ on yourself. A single fast->flat combo quickly catches up to a single Cure, and whereas our accuracy is... Kind of worrysome, I say, full party bonus + Electrum Rings tend to solve that problem generously.

Healing also poses a different problem: MP runs out with some expedience. Paladin only has two ways to recover MP by himself, Outmaneuver (and only if you don't have Stoneskin up) which also gives you TP to assist with WSes and Potions which do tend to have upwards of 4 minutes cooldown. So once your MP reaches rock-bottom (which, without equips, is about 1600~) you're kind of done for in that avenue of hate generation. Cure costs 112 and Holy Succor 280 at L50, so 14 castings of Cure or 5 casting of Holy Succor and your MP is down the drain. And you only regen MP on passive mode, what you're never on.

You're going to say "Bard" but- I don't think you want your bard to die and at high-end bosses you generally need to be careful about your positioning because displacing the boss means making the rest of the party vulnerable to conal/line AoEs, so having the bard run up to you when he's pretty much across the friggen map it's usually a bad idea, but 'doable' I guess.

Paladin heals are actually pretty good for self-sustenance, actually, and will go you a long way in an extended fight. However, you simply don't have enough tools to hold on only to cure-based enmity generation, I don't think. Hell that comes alone from fighting solo a good deal of my later levels, MP is not as easy to come by as it might seem.

hmmm. that is good to know. I wasn't sure what options there were for mana regen. are there any food options? if mana really is a big problem i can now understand why damage is the go-to for enmity generation. it would at that point be more reliable because you don't have to worry about a limited resource.

TP, by contrast, is sustainable provided you can land hits.